Episode Bovia: Chapter 2: Burst

Chapter 2 of Bovia's adventure.

            Bovia continued to let her mind wander as the teacher droned on about the history of the Faunus Rights Revolution which she had learned years ago during her early general school years.  Her mind was elsewhere.  Her class was only two days away from a training exercise out in the desert wastelands of Menagerie that she was greatly anticipating.  No longer would she be held to simply training with her classmates and Ilia, but now she would be able to test her mettle against actual Grimm.  Actual monsters.  A chance to prove she could hold her own.  Class droned on, but finally the bell rang and Bovia got her items together.  She didn’t have a session with Ilia that day, so she figured she could head home and potentially help her mother make dinner before her father got home.  She was excited to say the least, but as she reached her locker, she saw Lacerta standing in front of the locker.  Lacerta was a lizard Faunus with scales across her body that provided strong armor as well as could be utilized as small spikes for offense.  This natural ability including her strength training regiment as well as her Semblance of regenerating lost limbs meant she could go after whoever she deemed weakest and take what she wanted.  Which meant Bovia had to deal with her picking on her the most.

            “What’s the hurry little devil?” Lacerta said with a laugh.  Bovia sighed and tried to ignore the bait.

            “I’m not talking to you.”

            “Oh but of course, you have to meet with your fellow devil, right?  The shapeshifter?”  Bovia continued to try to suppress her rage, but it was becoming much harder the more Lacerta talked.  “You two seem perfect for each other.  You wish you could pass for human like she does, and she probably wishes she could be as hideous as you so people would stop looking at her!”

            “Say one more thing about Master Ilia” Bovia said with a growl.  “I dare you.”

            “Oh what, did me speaking the truth about two devils who shouldn’t be here touch one of your non-existent feelings?”  Bovia snapped.  She pulled out her weapon from her locker and swung the weight as hard as she could towards Lacerta.  This attack was easily blocked by Lacerta’s arm, and the followed that up by punching Bovia in the face with a spiked scale.  This caused Bovia to slide back a short ways, her Aura still intact but she could feel how much she had lost in the attack.  Realizing she was still amongst the lockers and it was far too cramped to try and fight here, Bovia quickly made her way out into the courtyard just outside the locker area.  From there she readied herself as Lacerta leapt out laughing like a maniac preparing for battle.  The two of them met in the middle of the courtyard exchanging blows.  Bovia doing everything she could to implement the lessons that Ilia taught her, while Lacerta simply charged forward without any form of fear.  They exchanged blows in an even match when suddenly, Bovia noticed one of Lacerta’s friends was approaching from the side, looking to attack from the flank.  But before she could do so, she also saw Canini charge in on all fours.  Canini had a unique Semblance that was a combination of mastery of Aura as well as a unique attack ability called “Feral”.  Canini could manipulate the Aura of her body around herself so that she moved and attacked like a wolf.  Aura wrapped around her arms and legs forming front paws and hind legs, as well as some Aura around her mouth that formed powerful fangs.  Canini grabbed Lacerta’s friend in her maw and flung her to the side, then quickly ran over to join Bovia in the fight.  Lacerta’s friend regained her bearings and joined her to also take part in the fight, when suddenly, a bolt of Lightning Dust struck the middle of the courtyard stopping the two of them from advancing.  From the strike out stepped their principal, Seji Rex, a lion Faunus with claws as his main trait.  He was one of the tallest men on Remnant, nearly the same height as Ghira Belladonna.  He had long gray hair on his head and a short gray beard that covered his chin but nothing else.  He also wore a dark yellow coat with a bright multi-color interior lining as he was one of the world’s most proficient Dust mages.

            “What is the meaning of this?” Principal Rex boomed as the energy of the Dust lightning still emanated around where he was standing.

            “I was minding my own business getting ready to leave,” Lacerta said with a wry smile stepping forward, “but this little delinquent….”

            “Your record precedes you Ms. Lacerta,” Principal Rex said with a glare.  “I will not tolerate my students fighting one another because of petty differences as small as how someone looks or how someone trains.”  As he said this, he walked over to Bovia, still glaring.  “And I will not tolerate my students resorting to violence and destruction as retaliation because of meager words.  I did not fight in the Faunus Rights Revolution to watch our own brothers and sisters turn their blades from their oppressors to their neighbors.  Both of you, detention for the rest of today.”

            “WHAT?” Bovia said with a yell of disappointment.  “I have my training session today!”

            “And if you truly cared about that, you wouldn’t have retaliated.”

            “But she….”

            “I already said I am aware of her record.  That does not excuse you from attacking back and destroying school property.  The detention room.  Ten minutes.  Unless you would wish for me to escalate this to your parents.”  As he turned to leave, Lacerta smiled an evil grin at Bovia.  “As for you,” the principal said glaring right at Lacerta, “I WILL escalate this to your parents immediately.  You have already reached an allotted number of strikes for this month alone, I’m surprised it took this long for you to reach this point.”

            “And I’m surprised you still think the same old routine is going to work with my folks old man” Lacerta said under her breath as the principal walked away.  Bovia sighed as Canini placed her hand on her shoulder.

            “You okay?” Canini asked.

            “Physically, yeah.  But mentally?  This is just rough.”

            “I’m sorry.  Wish I could’ve done more.”

            “You don’t have to deal with detention despite coming to my rescue.  I’d say that’s a decent win for you” Bovia said with a weak smile before it fell once again.  “I guess I’ll have to message Master Ilia that I won’t be in today.”

            “You want me to let her know?  She’s on my way.”

            “I can text her, it’s all good.  Thanks again.”

            “What else are friends for?” Canini said with a chuckle as she offered a fist bump to Bovia which she accepted before she headed back into the school building.

 

 

 

            The hours seemed to go by even slower in detention than when she was in class.  Bovia and Lacerta were the only ones in the detention hall for the day besides the principal monitoring them.  And given what had happened earlier they both sat on opposite sides of the room.  Lacerta just kept twirling a pencil out of boredom while Bovia tried to read up on some old textbooks going over different combat techniques.  She was grateful to have the opportunity to study these techniques, but she was itching to practice the techniques herself.  Lacerta seemed to be content simply listening to music on the other side of the room.  But as time passed, Principal Rex finally stood up and took both Bovia’s book as well as Lacerta’s music and stood before both of them.

            “You have grown up in a time where Menagerie is thriving.  Living your lives just as any other human would in one of the four Kingdoms, worrying about nothing more than your appearance around your peers, your grades, and such small petty things as insignificant as what you think of your fellow Faunus.  When I was a young adult, I was having to fight for the most basic of living rights.  To keep people from simply being hurt by having scales or horns.  Such beautiful traits to have, and yet you both fight.”

            “This isn’t the world you grew up in old man” Lacerta said with a scoff.

            “No, but the monsters are still the same.  Because of this, I think I have determined the perfect punishment for the two of you.  You will be paired together for the mission to the desert in two days.”

            “WHAT?” the two girls yelled in unison.

            “In the classroom, you have your teachers to look after you in a safe city” Principal Rex said as he started writing down the directive.  “But in the field, you only have one another.  You both see each other as devils in different ways, mostly as opponents.  Now you will see yourselves as allies.”

            “But Principal Rex” Bovia began to interject, “she’s a bully!  Why do I have to be punished for the mean things….”

            “I’m only telling you the truth ugly devil!” Lacerta responded with an angry scoff.  “Just because you can’t accept that…”

            “Oh, so it’s my fault you’re mean to everyone?  Why don’t you…”

            “Grow up!  It’s just….”

            “ENOUGH!” Principal Rex yelled as he snapped his fingers causing a boom of lightning to emanate from his body.  “Enough with this petty, basic, human-level nonsense!  You are Faunus!  And Faunus look out for one another because no one else will!”  With that, he sat back down at his desk, continuing to go over paperwork as the seconds continued to tick away like sand in an hourglass.  Bovia was shocked.  She didn’t even want to look at Lacerta much less work with her in a few days.  She quietly continued to work on her doodle and messed with her hair to try and cover her horns more.

 

 

 

The Next Day

Ilia’s Training Dojo

 

 

 

            “I actually agree with Principal Rex’s decision here” Ilia said as she wiped the sweat from her brow having finished the days lessons with Bovia.

            “Why?” Bovia asked shocked.  “I’ve told you how she’s treated me for so long, why do you think this is such a wonderful thing?”

            “I didn’t say wonderful, I said it was good.  He’s right, Faunus need to look out for one another because no one else will.  I told you the story about my days in Atlas, right?”

            “Since you’re a Chameleon Faunus you can pass for human, so you bonded with human girls at the combat school in Atlas and you bullied and degraded your fellow Faunus to try and fit in and when they found out YOU were a Faunus they turned on you and that then began your spiral in joining the White Fang,  I remember.”

            “A simple yes would have sufficed” Ilia said with a laugh.  “But yes, that is what happened.  And it still bothers me to this day.  Not because it was the reason I started to hate humans more than I did and that caused me to cast my lot in with the White Fang and Adam, but because I was content with living the lie.  And I kept living like that for years.  When I saw my old friend Blake again during the Vacuo Uprising, the lie I kept telling myself was that she hated me now.  She hated the Faunus.  She was even dating a human for crying out loud” Illa said this with a chuckle.

            “I still can’t figure that one out for the life of me” Bovia said with a grin.

            “I kind of can’t either.  But that’s not the point.  I had continued to lie and convince myself that what I was doing was right.  That I had to be this.  And that Blake, my childhood friend, now hated me.  But when we met on the battlefield, I didn’t see hate.  I saw tears.  Blake didn’t hate me for what I had done.  She was sad because I had lost my way.  That’s when the lies finally lost their hold on me.  Now I have this chance, and I can make a difference in people’s lives.”

            “And this ties back into my bully and I being forced to work together how again?”

            “You’re still hiding your horns in your hair, aren’t you?”  Bovia paused and placed her hand on the hair that was in fact covering her horns as Ilia said.

            “I don’t want people to keep making fun of me because of how I look.”

            “You’re living a lie yourself Bovia.  The bullies are telling you that you are different.  That you look wrong.  And because of that, you have changed yourself to look different to try and get rid of those kinds of comments.  But you’re actually doing exactly what they want you to do.  You’re reacting.  By hiding your horns, you’re telling them that their words influence you and get you to react. So they will continue to elicit more reactions.  Don’t hide your stripes.  Stand tall in who you are.”  Ilia smiled as she said this, while Bovia looked at her in surprise.

            “Do you really think it will work?”

            “I think that when you stop using the words of those who tear you down as your guide, you will hear the voices you need to listen to most.”

 

 

 

 

The Next Day

Training Mission over the Desert of Menagerie

 

 

 

            As the airships flew around the desert they would be exploring for their training session, Bovia looked over and saw Lacerta with her arms crossed, glaring at Bovia.  Bovia simply took a deep breath and tried to take in what the instructor was saying.

            “The creatures of Grimm have become far less of a threat over the years since the Battle of Vytal years ago” the instructor said over the airship headset.  “But as the Red Night five years ago showed us all, they are still very dangerous if push comes to shove.  That is why we must keep a close eye on these wild lands to make sure there is nothing that can harm those we care about back home.  So we must always be prepared for whatever happens.  And that includes basic operations of heavy equipment like this airship.  If one of your instructors is injured or you and your team need to get out of a bad situation and there is no licensed pilot to be found, knowing how to basically pilot one of these machines can help immensely.  Once we complete this task, we will teach you how to use the on-board tracking systems to find a small Grimm horde that you can take down as an extra form of training.  Now then, we’ll go through the basic procedures of flying this airship with the pilot.  Who wants to go first?”  As he said this, several students raised their hands and the process began in earnest.  The students learned how to properly fly the airship, even doing a few dangerous moves to try and scare the instructor before he scolded them.  Bovia and Lacerta sat in the back waiting their turn, still not looking at one another.

            “This is probably going to be the easiest part of the day for you” Lacerta said.  “Better hope that traitor taught you to not wet yourself in front of Grimm because good luck getting me to help you when you get trapped in the maw of a Beowolf.”  Bovia simply ignored Lacerta and continued to focus on watching the ship fly around with students at the helm.  But then she noticed something flashing on the central console.  She didn’t know what it was, but that it was a red dot getting closer and closer to the indicator of the ship on the display.  The pilot was busy making sure the students didn’t crash the plane, but then he looked down and saw it.  But he was too late.  The moment his eyes widened seeing what he saw, a loud crashing sound hit the ship and sent it into the sands below.  Most of the students were unbuckled because they were learning how to fly by either piloting themselves or by standing nearby watching, so a lot of students were thrown against the side of the airship.  Their Aura’s took most of the damage, while Bovia and Lacerta were still strapped in and relatively unharmed.  The two of them quickly unbuckled and helped who they could out of the airship.  As Bovia stepped outside into the blazing desert sun, she saw what had attacked their airship.  A giant Nevermore Grimm.  It was pecking at the side of the airship trying to get inside.  The other airships were also under attack from smaller Nevermores in the area.  Of all three total airships including Bovia’s, they all eventually fell due to the attacks.  Bovia and her classmates who could still fight didn’t waste any time once they got their bearings.  Some of the students with more range focused weapons started shooting at the smaller Nevermores while those with more melee focused weapons began going after the giant Nevermore.  Bovia was amongst the number of students who lead the charge against the giant Nevermore.  The monster was a challenge, but the numbers made it relatively simple at first.  Bovia and her classmates began the attack headfirst, striking the monsters body with small strikes as it tried to fight back.  As the battle dragged on, Bovia noticed something.  The Nevermore stopped trying to attack in short bursts like it had been, but rather started to pull its wings into itself like it was wrapping itself up in its own embrace.  Bovia paused for a moment as her classmates continued to press the attack, but then she realized what was happening.

            “Brace yourselves!” Bovia yelled at the top of her lungs.  And as she did so, the Nevermore pulled its wings back out wide, and then brought them down with tremendous force, creating a powerful gust of wind knocking everybody back.  Bovia saw it in time and anchored herself to a bit of debris with the weighted end of her weapon, but the debris was still loose, and the gust caused it to fly away, carrying Bovia with it.  But before she could fly off, Lacerta grabbed her and pulled her back down to keep from flying off.  Lacerta was using her spikey scales to anchor herself to the ground so she didn’t fly away and managed to keep Bovia on the ground as well.  The two of them looked at one another for a moment, but then some more shrapnel flew out and cut off Lacerta’s right arm.  Bovia gasped but Lacerta didn’t seem all that concerned, as her Semblance began to kick in and a new arm began growing back in.  In fact, Lacerta seemed to smile at this revelation.  Because as she pulled her severed arm out of the ground, the spikes of her old scales were still sharp and sticking out, readily available to use as a weapon.  She charged forward and joined the rest of the melee fighters.  Bovia tried not to puke at the image of her bully waving her own severed arm around like it was a club and got back into the fight as well.  Things continued to go back and forth, but then Bovia saw an opening.  She looked over at Lacerta and gave a signal they were taught in class. Lacerta nodded her head in understanding and moved all of her sharp scales to the edge of her fist.  Bovia then with the help of her classmates leapt up into the air, and brought the weighted end of her weapon down on the head of the Nevermore, which sent it crashing down and through the spiked fist of Lacerta, where the monster dissipated almost instantly.  The students let up a cheer as the monster was vanquished, while Bovia looked over to make sure her other classmates including Canini were still alive.  Canini was clearly out of Aura as she was fighting using her bare hands and whatever sharp pieces of debris she could use to defend herself against the remaining small Nevermores.  She was bleeding badly from her side, so Bovia quickly went over and helped dispatch the remaining monsters.  With the threat out of the way, everyone managed to regroup.  The instructors tried to cobble together what little remaining communication equipment they could to try and reach the villages.  After a few minutes they walked over and said,

            “We can’t get the systems to work.  Our next check in with home base is supposed to be in fifty minutes, so if we don’t check in, a search party will more than likely be sent out to look for us.”

            “But that could take hours” Bovia said as she tried to help her classmates with Canini’s wound.  “Some people need a hospital now!”

            “We can’t do anything about it.  We’re stuck out here.”

            “Is there some water at least?  That might help in the short term.”

            “Doubt it.  Most of our provisions were for a small excursion, not a survival mission.  What little we have should probably be given to the ones who need it most.”

            “But…..”

            “This is a tough time.  We need to make tough decisions to try and keep everyone alive.”  As the instructor said this, he ran off to search the rubble for what little water they could find.  Bovia felt the anger inside her well up.

            “I should’ve been there to help you….” She to Canini said as tears also began to form in her eyes.  “If I hadn’t been so stupid and fought back against Lacerta the other day…..”  But then, Bovia noticed something.  Her tears were a lot more voluminous than normal.  As she wiped her eyes, she noticed they weren’t salty tears like normal, but regular water.  As they fell down the side of her face and onto Canini, her friend rubbed some on her own face to wash the dirt off as well as tried to catch some in her mouth to get a sip of water.  Bovia was shocked and stopped crying, causing the water to stop.  She then looked at some of the droplets on her hands, and saw them fade back into her skin like lotion.  Everyone was staring at her with surprise and a bit of hope as well. Bovia had a million questions, but decided to try something.  She moved back over to Canini and motioned for her to shape her hands like a cup to which her friend complied.  Bova then held her hand out like she was holding a bottle, and then tilted her hand like she was pouring said bottle while trying to focus her Aura in and around her hand.  And as if like magic, water started flowing out of her hands as if she was truly pouring from a magical bottle of water.  Everyone’s eyes widened, and Bovia almost leapt up in excitement as she realized she had discovered her Semblance!  But she knew she couldn’t celebrate for long.  She quickly and calmly proceeded to do the exact same thing for her classmates starting with those who were injured and needed what little she could spare.  As she went around, the water seemed to not only hydrate people, but also heal their wounds a small bit.  Not enough to heal the wounds outright, but enough to allow their own Aura’s to begin regenerating properly and help take care of the wounds.  Bovia reached Lacerta, who was standing off to the side given the fact that her Semblance meant that even losing an arm was not that large of a loss.  Bovia simply sighed and offered Lacerta some water, to which she accepted.  This continued for another hour, and Bovia made sure everyone was okay.  And finally, the roar of airship engines could be heard in the distance, and the instructors fired a signal flare to bring help straight to them all.  A cheer went up from the students, but as Bovia raised her fist, she suddenly felt something wrong.  Her body was shriveled like a dried raisin.  When she tried to summon more water to help with that, she felt her face drying up as well.  Before she could even do anything else, the world began spinning around her and she passed out on the sand.

Author's Note

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